Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce - July 20 and 21

sirloindude recently posted a trip report about SFNE, Lake Compounce and Quassy but each experience is different so I'll post mine. (I did not go to Quassy.) This trip came about mainly because someone with whom I've been exchanging emails kept urging me to go to Lake Compounce, telling me that I would love Boulder Dash. So I finally went. Because I flew to Hartford and both parks are roughly equidistant from Bradley International Airport, it made sense to do one park on Saturday and the other on Sunday.

Although my Six Flags season pass with parking is supposed to include parking only at Six Flags Great Adventure, I was able to get into Six Flags Fiesta without having to pay for parking so had hoped that this would prove to be the case at SFNE. It did not. So I paid the $20 to park and decided that next year I'll have to upgrade. The park was not as crowded as usual, probably because of the weather forecast. I was able to get on Bizarro without any wait and decided to go for a second ride when the ride went down due to "technical difficulties." That being the case, I thought that it might be a good idea to try out some coasters I hadn't ridden on my previous visit to the park so went on Mind Eraser. It was an experience I would not want to repeat. Talk about rough! This is probably the roughest ride I've ever had except for the Coney Island Cyclone. It was rough on both my head and shoulders and as a result I couldn't wait for it to end.

Next up was Batman:The Dark Knight. This was a vast improvement over Mind Eraser. Nothing exceptional but a nice, smooth ride. With Bizarro back up and running, I rode it several more times and as I was about to go for my 5th ride on it, it was shut down due to an impending storm. I actually ended up waiting out the storm in the loading station for an hour, along with a number of other diehards. And why not? All the rides were closed and the loading station afforded cover when it started to pour. During the lengthy delay, the ride ops made an attempt to entertain us with jokes. Once the storm had passed and the cable lift was activated, there were cheers from everyone in the station. This time I managed to get the front row and although the airtime is better in the back, I enjoy the unobstructed view and the hang time on the first drop.

Having ridden Cyclone on my last visit, I decided to try Thunderbolt. I actually liked Thunderbolt better than Cyclone even though it's older and smaller because at least it has some life left in it. I could not bring myself to ride Goliath. When I saw that the towers are almost completely vertical, I didn't think I could handle it without freaking out. I can go up a lift hill vertically while facing forward - I've done it on Fahrenheit - but not facing backwards. Being pulled up the lift hill backwards on the two boomerangs I've ridden was slow torture and that wasn't anywhere close to being vertical.

Lake Compounce on the following day was the highlight of my trip. It cost me only $19.99 to get in because I qualify for the senior rate (60 and up) and parking was a bargain at $8.00. I had gotten permission from the park to record on-ride videos for a story I was doing but unfortunately, the camcorder sunglasses I had ordered online did not arrive in time so I had to hope that a cheap pair I bought on eBay a year ago would work.

What a beautiful park! I thought it was pretty cool that Wildcat is the focal point when you enter the park and loved the mountainous terrain. Of course I couldn't wait to get to Boulder Dash. I was confident that it would be good but had no idea of exactly how good: a wild ride through the woods with extreme airtime and never a dull moment. I love this coaster and could have ridden it all day! (Kudos to the ride ops, who went out of their way to do a good job not only in operating the ride but in interacting with the riders.) As it was, I managed 5 rides and decided to move on to explore the park and find interesting things to photograph. My e-mail correspondent had warned me that Wildcat was very rough but I did not find this to be the case, maybe because I was sitting in the front row. I probably should have tried some flat rides but didn't due to both time constraints and the fact that I rarely ride anything other than coasters. (Zoomerang was closed for much of the day so I didn't ride it - just as well, considering my dislike of Vekoma boomerangs.

It was a fun trip and my only regret is that the videos I attempted to record did not come out at all; the POV glasses picked up only the audio, so that I now have 4 audio recordings of Boulder Dash, lol. Be that as it may, I am glad to have had the opportunity to visit this lovely park and thank the staff for their courtesy and hospitality.